I'm having a similar problem here as well, but mine extends to trying to load episode 4 directly. I get through the recap and then I'm pretty sure the intro cutscene of Rosella and Shadrack is buggy. Rosella is utterly frozen and doesn't move at all while I hear dialogue and see Shadrack moving around. Then it goes to load the game with Graham in the castle foyer and then does nothing but sit there. If I click my mouse it pops up with a "Would you like to skip this cutscene" question. I click yes and the game force closes.
I've tried turning the game's graphic settings down as low as possible but that does nothing to help. I'm running XP, but the pass episodes worked just fine with it. (I had force closes upon occasion, I just treated it like the old school games and saved every four seconds just in case.)
Any ideas?